A big week ahead for Ben Bernanke

In looking back, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke may rue the day he decided to write that speech where he laid out a defense of central bank policy actions in relation to the housing bubble. Roundly criticized by market analysts and those economists who are not connected to the Fed or on its payroll, when combined with last Tuesday's voter backlash in Massachusetts and the subsequent populist fervor in Washington, it has set the stage for what could be a contentious vote for re-confirmation where the odds seem to be changing by the hour.

The Wall Street Journal has had this poll up since Friday and, if the changes it has undergone bear any resemblance to what's going through the minds of elected officials, then the Fed chief could be in serious trouble.
In the latest WSJ tally of who's voting 'Yes' and who's voting 'No' - a page that seems to be changing hourly - it would be nice to have an additional column indicating who's up for re-election this fall ... that shouldn't be too hard for someone to put together...

Anyway, here's the current summary:

Voting “Yes”: 31 (20 Democrats, 10 Republican, 1 Independent)
Voting “No”: 16 (4 Democrats, 11 Republicans, 1 Independent)
Officially Undecided: 23 (14 Democrats, 9 Republicans)

Calculated Risk has a compendium of links on the subject here, here, and here and the latest from the Journal can be found here (from about a half hour ago). To get the absolute latest news, try this Google News search for "Bernanke" over the last hour - I'm going to go watch some football that has been building up a buffer on my trusty Tivo.